My Friend Delara and I met while we were both studying abroad in Barcelona Spain. We were classmates and adventure junkies and decided to join forces and plan some cultural explorations around Europe and Northern & Western Africa. She has been my best travel buddy because we are very alike in many ways. She is very laid back, yet street smart & always positive & happy and best of all she knows like 3 languages. Our most memorable trip was a two week journey throughout Tunisia which we planned as soon as our classes were over. We pre-booked only our flight tickets in and out of the capital city of Tunis, the rest of the trip we charted out as we went along. It was just us two girls in a foreign Muslim country that despite our gender and lack of Arabic language turned out to be the best of all of our adventures yet. We did all are traveling by local transportation which included local trains or mini buses or just walking. All that we had to guide us was a backpacker’s guide to Tunisia and a few suggested places our history professor told us to seek out.
We explored the whole country from top to bottom coastline to dessert, urban areas to lush mountain villages. We spent 4 days roaming the Sahara with two camels & an old Bedouin man who shared no common language with us except for a love making music & singing to the animals. We learned a little Arabic here & there and filled up on local foods & cultural music. We even made a few friends along the way and were surprised again and again by the kindness of strangers. In the small coastal town of Sidi Bou Said we even got invited to a local wedding and by the end of the night we were dancing and taking pictures with the newlyweds. In other places we went to it seemed to me that we were the first women to ever go into and chill at some of the local cafes and restaurants. These places were filled with men of all ages smoking hookahs and drinking mint tea. Their uneasy stairs quickly turned into smiles of acceptance once they saw us drinking tea, smoking hookah like pros and just relaxing just like them. They sometimes would even offer to buy us a round of drinks or show us how to play different board games. Within the first week we got use to everyone staring at us and we got use to planning our day around their 5 prayer times when we knew no public places would be open. It was a dirty, physically & mentally draining trip that was far for easy and something most independent women travelers in their twenties would not dream of doing but, Delara and I not only faced our fears and overcame all the obstacles we encountered but we also helped change the perception of what Tunisian people thought about Americans & women more specifically.
We got to experience the true dynamic culture of Tunisia not just by snapping pictures but by actually living and adapting to it. I don’t think I would have been able to laugh every day or feel as safe as I did if it were not for my travel buddy Delara and that’s why I hope that we win this trip. We are two people that love to travel, meet new people & try new things. We travel for the cultural interactions and the excitement of exploring the roads less traveled.